2. Explain what the psychological disorder that the film is dealing with is, what is its cause, and what are its symptoms.
The film, A Beautiful Mind, is about a schizophrenic (paranoid) mathematician named John Nash. Although John Nash is a genius in the fields of mathematics and economics, he has problems with developing personal relationships with others. His schizophrenic symptoms eventually become worse as he works for the U.S. government: the Department of Defense. He is given various assignments at the Department of Defense; he is ordered to find Soviet codes in the media. However, Nash develops the notion how the Soviet forces are constantly chasing him, which intensifies his symptoms of schizophrenia (even though he always had mild auditory and visionary problems). He suffers from hallucinations, imagining that the Soviets are after him, visualizes "imagined" characters as Parcher and Charles. It turns out that Charles - his roommate in Princeton - was also a product of Nash's hallucination. Also, from his paranoid schizophrenia, he engages in strange behaviors such as obsessive worrying. In the film, he tries to run away while giving a lecture. Although the movie states that his problem was visual and also auditory, Nash only suffered from auditory schizophrenia.
3. Explain how this disorder is usually treated. Was this how it was treated in the film? Explain how it was dealt with in the film.
Schizophrenia is usually treated through antipsychotic, antidepressant, and antianxiety mediation and psychological and social supports such as psychiatrists,friends, and family. The primary purpose of antipsychotic drugs to control hallucinations, and delusions and social supports, such as group therapy and family therapy may help the patient relieve certain consequences of schizophrenia. Drugs in the form of pills each day after Nash came out of the hospital. There was also "insulin shock therapy," where doctors had injected large doses of insulin into Nash's body five times a week. Although this type of treatment is not available today, it was prominent during the 1950s in American psych wards. Although Nash went through a lot of treatment, it turned out to be ineffective. Only though drugs was he able to not have the hallucinations, but that had made an environment where he wasn't able to think properly. As soon as he started avoiding the pills, he would hallucinate and become paranoid again. To "overcome" schizophrenia, he decided that ignoring was the best solution for him to live in society. The more that he avoided communicating with fiction, the less paranoid he became. He was able to figure out what was reality and fiction through time and experience. Although the movie suggests that he had taken pills to relieve the hallucinations and delusions, he had never taken drugs in the form of pills. While many doctors would state that it is impossible to overcome schizophrenia without treatment, Nash was able to do just that by conquering his inner self and the illusions that he had created. Some doctors even stated that he had the worst of possible schizophrenia, but he was able to overcome the problem through tremendous amounts of effort. 4. What you learned from watching this film.
From watching the film, A Beautiful Mind, we learned that there could be traumatic experiences to everyone - even the ones that seem to be very successful as John Nash (Nobel Prize and Carnegie Prize awardee). Even though John Nash seems to have achieved great accomplishments (game theory and the partial differential theory) in the fields of mathematics and economics, he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Others may not easily notice how hard he tried to overcome the situation and finally standup alone. His endeavor to fight his schizophrenic symptoms were "beautiful" in a sense that it revealed his hard efforts. We also learned how paranoid schizophrenia may lead to various psychological problems such as auditory and visionary hallucinations.
5. Your reason for choosing the film.
We chose this film because it represented a man who had gone through strenuous pain throughout his entire life. He was alone, and away from society many of his years and had to go through schizophrenia at the same time. For such a large problem in Nash's society, where Schizophrenia was viewed much lower than today, it was astounding to find out that he had overcome it. It was emotional and told about a man who strove many years to accomplish his dreams. Not just that, Schizophrenia was well depicted in the movie, and showed us what the view of the world in Nash's mind. The movie depicted some of the popular treatments of schizophrenia during that time, which were drugs and insulin treatment. As the criteria for this project was to learn about a psychological disorder in real life, in the point of view of a nonfiction person named John Nash, it was the perfect movie to show how much schizophrenia can impact a person's life. To notice that even Princeton graduates and math geniuses to go through schizophrenia and actually conquer it, it was tremendously emotional and touching. The movie truly depicted "a beautiful mind," unraveling the problems and daily lives of a mathematician going through schizophrenia.
6. Grading: Cut and paste the following onto your wikipage and then fill it out.
Use of class time 5/5 Reason for grade: Even though we could not get the full-movie of A Beautiful Mind (only watched a portion of it due to technical problems of the Internet), we decided to spend the time in class analyzing the symptoms and conditions of paranoid schizophrenia in order to gain a better grasp when we are actually watching the movie. Through the research done on schizophrenia, while watching the film, we were both able to easily identify the schizophrenic symptoms of John Nash.
Depth of work done 15/15 Reason for grade: From the very beginning of the assignment, we both discussed about the "psychology-related" films and thought about which film would best illustrate our knowledge about the materials we have covered over the course. We decided to watch the film, A Beautiful Mind, because the main character John Nash demonstrates schizophrenic symptoms (what we have learned in class). We carefully analyzed the key points of the film and tried to incorporate our knowledge on psychology as much as possible into the assignment . We thoroughly discussed about schizophrenia and the possible solutions we would have given John Nash if we were to have been involved in the diagnosis of his symptoms. We tried to approach the assignment carefully and accurately in order to gain a more firm grasp on paranoid schizophrenia.
What I learned 5/5 Reason for grade: By watching the film, we not only learned the specific symptoms that paranoid schizophrenic patients undergo but also how John Nash is not simply praised for his accomplishments in mathematics and economics but also for his hard endeavors to overcome his schizophrenia and carry on his life with his family. We believe that we have learned a lot from the film as much as possible.
Wikispace's attractiveness 5/5 Reason for grade: From the images above, readers could both see the real John Nash and the one in the movie (Russell Crowe). The Wikispace is designed easily for the readers to read what we have found out from watching the movie as well.
Total 30/30
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Soho & DK"Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart."
- John Nash in 'A Beautiful Mind'
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqj1DhUKJco
Interview With the Real John Nash.
Shows what Nash thinks about the movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiWBWwCa1E0
Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kiGQwjhy8
2. Explain what the psychological disorder that the film is dealing with is, what is its cause, and what are its symptoms.
The film, A Beautiful Mind, is about a schizophrenic (paranoid) mathematician named John Nash. Although John Nash is a genius in the fields of mathematics and economics, he has problems with developing personal relationships with others. His schizophrenic symptoms eventually become worse as he works for the U.S. g
3. Explain how this disorder is usually treated. Was this how it was treated in the film? Explain how it was dealt with in the film.
Schizophrenia is usually treated through antipsychotic, antidepressant, and antianxiety mediation and psychological and social supports such as psychiatrists,friends, and family. The primary purpose of antipsychotic drugs to control hallucinations, and delusions and social supports, such as group therapy and family therapy may help the patient relieve certain consequences of schizophrenia. Drugs in the form of pills each day after Nash came out of the hospital. There was also "insulin shock therapy," where doctors had injected large doses of insulin into Nash's body five times a week. Although this type of treatment is not available today, it was prominent during the 1950s in American psych wards. Although Nash went through a lot of treatment, it turned out to be ineffective. Only though drugs was he able to not have the hallucinations, but that had made an environment where he wasn't able to think properly. As soon as he started avoiding the pills, he would hallucinate and become paranoid again. To "overcome" schizophrenia, he decided that ignoring was the best solution for him to live in society. The more that he avoided communicating with fiction, the less paranoid he became. He was able to figure out what was reality and fiction through time and experience. Although the movie suggests that he had taken pills to relieve the hallucinations and delusions, he had never taken drugs in the form of pills. While many doctors would state that it is impossible to overcome schizophrenia without treatment, Nash was able to do just that by conquering his inner self and the illusions that he had created. Some doctors even stated that he had the worst of possible schizophrenia, but he was able to overcome the problem through tremendous amounts of effort.
4. What you learned from watching this film.
From watching the film, A Beautiful Mind, we learned that there could be traumatic experiences to everyone - even the ones that seem to be very successful as John Nash (Nobel Prize and Carnegie Prize awardee). Even though John Nash seems to have achieved great accomplishments (game theory and the partial differential theory) in the fields of mathematics and economics, he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Others may not easily notice how hard he tried to overcome the situation and finally standup alone. His endeavor to fight his schizophrenic symptoms were "beautiful" in a sense that it revealed his hard efforts. We also learned how paranoid schizophrenia may lead to various psychological problems such as auditory and visionary hallucinations.
5. Your reason for choosing the film.
We chose this film because it represented a man who had gone through strenuous pain throughout his entire life. He was alone, and away from society many of his years and had to go through schizophrenia at the same time. For such a large problem in Nash's society, where Schizophrenia was viewed much lower than today, it was astounding to find out that he had overcome it. It was emotional and told about a man who strove many years to accomplish his dreams. Not just that, Schizophrenia was well depicted in the movie, and showed us what the view of the world in Nash's mind. The movie depicted some of the popular treatments of schizophrenia during that time, which were drugs and insulin treatment. As the criteria for this project was to learn about a psychological disorder in real life, in the point of view of a nonfiction person named John Nash, it was the perfect movie to show how much schizophrenia can impact a person's life. To notice that even Princeton graduates and math geniuses to go through schizophrenia and actually conquer it, it was tremendously emotional and touching. The movie truly depicted "a beautiful mind," unraveling the problems and daily lives of a mathematician going through schizophrenia.
6.
Grading:
Cut and paste the following onto your wikipage and then fill it out.
Use of class time 5/5 Reason for grade: Even though we could not get the full-movie of A Beautiful Mind (only watched a portion of it due to technical problems of the Internet), we decided to spend the time in class analyzing the symptoms and conditions of paranoid schizophrenia in order to gain a better grasp when we are actually watching the movie. Through the research done on schizophrenia, while watching the film, we were both able to easily identify the schizophrenic symptoms of John Nash.
Depth of work done 15/15 Reason for grade: From the very beginning of the assignment, we both discussed about the "psychology-related" films and thought about which film would best illustrate our knowledge about the materials we have covered over the course. We decided to watch the film, A Beautiful Mind, because the main character John Nash demonstrates schizophrenic symptoms (what we have learned in class). We carefully analyzed the key points of the film and tried to incorporate our knowledge on psychology as much as possible into the assignment . We thoroughly discussed about schizophrenia and the possible solutions we would have given John Nash if we were to have been involved in the diagnosis of his symptoms. We tried to approach the assignment carefully and accurately in order to gain a more firm grasp on paranoid schizophrenia.
What I learned 5/5 Reason for grade: By watching the film, we not only learned the specific symptoms that paranoid schizophrenic patients undergo but also how John Nash is not simply praised for his accomplishments in mathematics and economics but also for his hard endeavors to overcome his schizophrenia and carry on his life with his family. We believe that we have learned a lot from the film as much as possible.
Wikispace's attractiveness 5/5 Reason for grade: From the images above, readers could both see the real John Nash and the one in the movie (Russell Crowe). The Wikispace is designed easily for the readers to read what we have found out from watching the movie as well.
Total 30/30